OPINION: SARAKI HAS PHOBIA FOR DILIGENT PROSECUTION, by Akogun Oyedepo
Man has structured society into some intricate complexities. Human society has emerged from the state of nature where life is said to be brutish and short. The structure of the society through laws regulates mode of behaviour of citizens. The more civilised a state, perhaps the more codified its laws. Nigeria is an emerging civilised and democratic society and the behaviour of Nigerians are regulated by our laws. One institution of our society that has stood the test of time is the judiciary. Military coups may affect the erosion of some powers of our judiciary, it has never abrogated outrighthly our judicial system. If our democracy is nascent, our judiciary is as old as the concept of Nigeria. The judiciary is therefore acknowledged as the last hope of common man, especially where the rich may want to erase the hope with money and influence. All Nigerians alive today were born into law through the operation of law courts; even if not born into democracy. Why must anybody develop a phobia for prosecution in a system that judiciary has become a culture that we must live with. Phobia is ‘’an irrational or obsessive fear or anxiety about a particular thing’’. In the case under reference why must Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki have phobia to face the challenges of prosecution anytime he is alleged to have committed a crime? Running from pillar to post when alleged to have committed an offence is an evidence of phobia for diligent prosecution.
It is good to have a peep into the history of criminal allegations against Dr Olubukola Saraki. He started as a petty thief in 1990. He was alleged with others and charged to the Lagos Magistrate court for unlawfully conspired to commit felony: forgery which was offensive to s. 516 of Criminal Code cap 31 vol 11 Laws of Lagos State 1973. Essentially it was a crime of stealing the sum of N510,000 from the vault of the family bank, Societe Generale Bank of Nig Ltd (SGBN). That case was not allowed to go through diligent prosecution as the late father; Dr Abubakar Olusola Saraki used his huge political influence to terminate the charge. One would have thought that if one is accused of a crime of stealing like the one under reference; the best would have been for one to go through the rigors of diligent prosecution to clear ones image and name. From this humble beginning of evasiveness of justice the pattern of creating scenes and dramas in and outside of courts have been the styles of this political leader. And that has created the image of a notorious accused that has phobia for diligent prosecution.
Dr Bukola Saraki was the Executive Vice Chairman of SGBN until the Bank finally went under in 2003. There are too many allegations against this man when he was the helmsman in the Bank. He was accused of using depositors’ money to buy shares in the bank in the process of capitalisation of the Bank. It was indeed allegations of fraud bordering on abuse of office and money laundering. He was quizzed for looting investors/Depositors money. The whole board room manipulations and mega fraud triggered and ensured the collapse of SGBN finally in 2003. The collapse of SGBN and how the alleged culprits escaped the hammer of the law thus far is a sad testimony of the manipulations of the power structure in Nigeria to favour the powerful. The case was diligently investigated by the Nuhu Ribadu led EFCC before his unceremonious exit from the anti-corruption agency in 2007. Political intrigues, influence, desire of the men of timber and calibre in the ruling party then shielded the Sarakis from prosecution. But the pertinent questions to ask are many: The Bank went under, who ran it aground? The money belonging to investors and the depositors were lost, have they been settled? Akingboola of the defunct Intercontinental Bank, Cecilia Ibru of the defunct Oceanic Bank allegedly committed the same offence of running their banks aground, they were prosecuted, why does Saraki remain a sacred cow when it comes to the prosecution for the crimes allegedly committed? These and many other questions must be answered by the power elites in Nigeria from Presidents Obasanjo to Late Yar’ Adua and Jonathan who were in the best position to prosecute this case, but only buried it. Even during the time of President Yar’ Adua the Senator then as Kwara State Governor and the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum was almost the de facto Vice President and rumously engineered the sacking of Ribadu and ensured the installation of a successor. But the bottom-line is that whether by the use of political influence or political intrigues, SGBN fraud allegations have not been diligently prosecuted.
From the case of the collapse of the SGBN entered the case of conspiracy, forgery and stealing involving the sum of 21billion naira belonging to Joy Petroleum Nig Ltd. There was also another case of a loan of 11billion naira obtained from the defunct Intercontinental Nig. Ltd. It was later discovered on investigation that 9.7 billion of the 11billion was later illegally written off by the bank through some not too neat processes in the bank. This case was handled by the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigerian Police at the Milverton Street Ikoyi, Lagos. What was the reaction of Bukola Saraki to the charges at the SFU? The first reaction was to refuse to honour the invitation of the police on the very grave charges. For upward of three weeks, distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria refused to honour the invitation of the police. It was not until he was declared wanted by the police that though he was to honour the police invitation in Lagos, the accused surrendered to the police at the Louis Edet House at Abuja. It was rather too tough to get him to honour the invitation at the SFU office in Lagos. That was indeed part of his well-known tactics of his phobia for diligent prosecution.
Whenever he is accused of a crime, he must appeal to public sentiments or emotions. When he was accused of stealing, conspiracy and fraud at the SFU he accused the Jonathan government of victimisation and persecution for his roles in opening the lids over the petroleum subsidy scandal. Sentiments, blackmails and emotions usually make it easy for him to rent crowd to follow him either to the court of law where he is to stand trials or to the venues of the investigations. This he did on the 20th day of April 2012 when he stormed the SFU office at Milverton Street Ikoyi with his usual crowds of hangers on and scavengers, chanting solidarity songs in support of a suspect. This is also part of the ploy to evade diligent prosecution of the case. The same style of crowd renting to intimidate the court and the police is what is the usual features of the trials of Saraki whether at the CCT or even at the any other regular courts of the land.
Another well-known tactics of Senator Bukola Saraki to evade justice is to employ the use of court process and procedures on preliminary objections that may lead to obtaining injunctions, attacking the credibility of judges, jurisdiction of the court, competency of the actions etc. In most cases, he employs lawyers who are adept at windy and sometimes meaningless cross examinations. The SFU case was aborted at the level of investigation when a report was obtained by Senator Bukola Saraki from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation that the investigations into the matter must be discontinued and the suspect must no more be arrested. All the above are done to cause delay or abort justice by using influence and money to delay and deny justice to the society in dire need of fairness and justice even while high profile accused is involved in criminal matters. For example, sometimes in the month of April 2012, Senator Bukola Saraki filed an application in an Abuja court seeking declaration of a perpetual immunity from arrest and investigation by the police for any criminal offences that may be preferred against him. The then Inspector General of Police, Mr M .D Abubakar in his affidavit opposing the motion had to say that the application ‘’is dangerous as it is designed to confer permanent immunity on Senator Saraki and thereby should prevent him from arrest, investigation and prosecution’’. The court refused to grant the illegal injunction as no court in Nigeria has the power to grant the illegal injunction. All the tactics of running from pillar to post, courts shopping, solidarity crowds to the court of trials or point of investigations are purely to arrest diligent prosecution of criminal cases against the Senate President.
The latest is that of using legislative powers to frustrate investigations and prosecution. This is novel in the use or misuse of legislative powers or responsibility in this country. Thus, when their President is under prosecution, the Senate of the federal republic disingenuously made an amendment to Code of Conduct act that will put the Code of Conduct Bureau and its tribunal under the watchful eyes and powers of the accused. And to further weaken the EFCC, only a meniable character that could be pocketed could be tolerated by the Senate. Ibrahim Magu could be as turbulent as the erstwhile anti-corruption czar, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; so the Senate should shoot him down during confirmation at the red Chambers. All these are just for one purpose: frustration of diligent investigations that must stall diligent prosecution.
So government or governance in this country is conspiracy of the elites whether in government or out of government! From petty thievery in 1990 to a concluded investigation of the collapse of SGBN in 2007, to investigations on conspiracy, stealing and fraud and to criminal write-off of a loan of over 9.7 billion naira at the defunct Intercontinental Bank PLC; all investigated at the SFU in 2012; to anticipatory and non-declaration of assets and money laundering at the CCT in 2015; then to the issue of the forgery of the Senate rules 2015 etc: all these are either frustrated at the stage of investigations by the police or that diligent prosecution have developed epileptic fits. Our laws, constitution and periodic elections are mere decorations. Where is the content of the ordinary peoples’ interests in governance in Nigeria? Judges including justices of the Supreme Court were accused of corruption and they were forced to step down from their Olympia Heights to face prosecution in the courts of the land. Senate President, the third in the leadership hierarchy in Nigeria has multiple criminal cases against him; he still presides over the affairs of the National Assembly making laws for ‘’good governance’’ of the country. A man steals goat in Nigeria and goes to jail, but the more the rich steals, the more freedom he gets from this our corrupt system. In China, I was told that a corrupt person must face capital punishment. In Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Islam; there is no discrimination in their administration of Justice. As recent as the 18th day of October 2016, a member of Saudi royal house Turk Bin Saud Al Kabar, was executed for killing an ordinary citizen of the Kingdom. If it were to be here the case will still be on preliminary objections until all traces of evidence connected with the crime have been deeply buried and the accused shall be discharged, even if not acquitted.
When will character and integrity count in our elections in Nigeria? Could it be as a result of poverty of socio/political consciousness that make people who are deficient in decency, integrity and character to win elections in Nigeria? Or could it be that character do not count because majority live in abject poverty and to such category, survival most often is the motto? I think a politician accused of a crime should be eager to clear his or her name rather than resulting to technicalities of the law and procedure to prevent his or her timely trial or trial at all. In a decent society whoever has phobia for diligent prosecution is guilty as charged if not in the court of law but in the minds of the people. In our criminal law, though the burden of proof of a crime is on the prosecution, if an accused person frustrates the work of the prosecutor, the weight of unproved guilt is on the accused. So let it be with the Senate President.
It is good to have a peep into the history of criminal allegations against Dr Olubukola Saraki. He started as a petty thief in 1990. He was alleged with others and charged to the Lagos Magistrate court for unlawfully conspired to commit felony: forgery which was offensive to s. 516 of Criminal Code cap 31 vol 11 Laws of Lagos State 1973. Essentially it was a crime of stealing the sum of N510,000 from the vault of the family bank, Societe Generale Bank of Nig Ltd (SGBN). That case was not allowed to go through diligent prosecution as the late father; Dr Abubakar Olusola Saraki used his huge political influence to terminate the charge. One would have thought that if one is accused of a crime of stealing like the one under reference; the best would have been for one to go through the rigors of diligent prosecution to clear ones image and name. From this humble beginning of evasiveness of justice the pattern of creating scenes and dramas in and outside of courts have been the styles of this political leader. And that has created the image of a notorious accused that has phobia for diligent prosecution.
Dr Bukola Saraki was the Executive Vice Chairman of SGBN until the Bank finally went under in 2003. There are too many allegations against this man when he was the helmsman in the Bank. He was accused of using depositors’ money to buy shares in the bank in the process of capitalisation of the Bank. It was indeed allegations of fraud bordering on abuse of office and money laundering. He was quizzed for looting investors/Depositors money. The whole board room manipulations and mega fraud triggered and ensured the collapse of SGBN finally in 2003. The collapse of SGBN and how the alleged culprits escaped the hammer of the law thus far is a sad testimony of the manipulations of the power structure in Nigeria to favour the powerful. The case was diligently investigated by the Nuhu Ribadu led EFCC before his unceremonious exit from the anti-corruption agency in 2007. Political intrigues, influence, desire of the men of timber and calibre in the ruling party then shielded the Sarakis from prosecution. But the pertinent questions to ask are many: The Bank went under, who ran it aground? The money belonging to investors and the depositors were lost, have they been settled? Akingboola of the defunct Intercontinental Bank, Cecilia Ibru of the defunct Oceanic Bank allegedly committed the same offence of running their banks aground, they were prosecuted, why does Saraki remain a sacred cow when it comes to the prosecution for the crimes allegedly committed? These and many other questions must be answered by the power elites in Nigeria from Presidents Obasanjo to Late Yar’ Adua and Jonathan who were in the best position to prosecute this case, but only buried it. Even during the time of President Yar’ Adua the Senator then as Kwara State Governor and the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum was almost the de facto Vice President and rumously engineered the sacking of Ribadu and ensured the installation of a successor. But the bottom-line is that whether by the use of political influence or political intrigues, SGBN fraud allegations have not been diligently prosecuted.
From the case of the collapse of the SGBN entered the case of conspiracy, forgery and stealing involving the sum of 21billion naira belonging to Joy Petroleum Nig Ltd. There was also another case of a loan of 11billion naira obtained from the defunct Intercontinental Nig. Ltd. It was later discovered on investigation that 9.7 billion of the 11billion was later illegally written off by the bank through some not too neat processes in the bank. This case was handled by the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigerian Police at the Milverton Street Ikoyi, Lagos. What was the reaction of Bukola Saraki to the charges at the SFU? The first reaction was to refuse to honour the invitation of the police on the very grave charges. For upward of three weeks, distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria refused to honour the invitation of the police. It was not until he was declared wanted by the police that though he was to honour the police invitation in Lagos, the accused surrendered to the police at the Louis Edet House at Abuja. It was rather too tough to get him to honour the invitation at the SFU office in Lagos. That was indeed part of his well-known tactics of his phobia for diligent prosecution.
Whenever he is accused of a crime, he must appeal to public sentiments or emotions. When he was accused of stealing, conspiracy and fraud at the SFU he accused the Jonathan government of victimisation and persecution for his roles in opening the lids over the petroleum subsidy scandal. Sentiments, blackmails and emotions usually make it easy for him to rent crowd to follow him either to the court of law where he is to stand trials or to the venues of the investigations. This he did on the 20th day of April 2012 when he stormed the SFU office at Milverton Street Ikoyi with his usual crowds of hangers on and scavengers, chanting solidarity songs in support of a suspect. This is also part of the ploy to evade diligent prosecution of the case. The same style of crowd renting to intimidate the court and the police is what is the usual features of the trials of Saraki whether at the CCT or even at the any other regular courts of the land.
Another well-known tactics of Senator Bukola Saraki to evade justice is to employ the use of court process and procedures on preliminary objections that may lead to obtaining injunctions, attacking the credibility of judges, jurisdiction of the court, competency of the actions etc. In most cases, he employs lawyers who are adept at windy and sometimes meaningless cross examinations. The SFU case was aborted at the level of investigation when a report was obtained by Senator Bukola Saraki from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation that the investigations into the matter must be discontinued and the suspect must no more be arrested. All the above are done to cause delay or abort justice by using influence and money to delay and deny justice to the society in dire need of fairness and justice even while high profile accused is involved in criminal matters. For example, sometimes in the month of April 2012, Senator Bukola Saraki filed an application in an Abuja court seeking declaration of a perpetual immunity from arrest and investigation by the police for any criminal offences that may be preferred against him. The then Inspector General of Police, Mr M .D Abubakar in his affidavit opposing the motion had to say that the application ‘’is dangerous as it is designed to confer permanent immunity on Senator Saraki and thereby should prevent him from arrest, investigation and prosecution’’. The court refused to grant the illegal injunction as no court in Nigeria has the power to grant the illegal injunction. All the tactics of running from pillar to post, courts shopping, solidarity crowds to the court of trials or point of investigations are purely to arrest diligent prosecution of criminal cases against the Senate President.
The latest is that of using legislative powers to frustrate investigations and prosecution. This is novel in the use or misuse of legislative powers or responsibility in this country. Thus, when their President is under prosecution, the Senate of the federal republic disingenuously made an amendment to Code of Conduct act that will put the Code of Conduct Bureau and its tribunal under the watchful eyes and powers of the accused. And to further weaken the EFCC, only a meniable character that could be pocketed could be tolerated by the Senate. Ibrahim Magu could be as turbulent as the erstwhile anti-corruption czar, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; so the Senate should shoot him down during confirmation at the red Chambers. All these are just for one purpose: frustration of diligent investigations that must stall diligent prosecution.
So government or governance in this country is conspiracy of the elites whether in government or out of government! From petty thievery in 1990 to a concluded investigation of the collapse of SGBN in 2007, to investigations on conspiracy, stealing and fraud and to criminal write-off of a loan of over 9.7 billion naira at the defunct Intercontinental Bank PLC; all investigated at the SFU in 2012; to anticipatory and non-declaration of assets and money laundering at the CCT in 2015; then to the issue of the forgery of the Senate rules 2015 etc: all these are either frustrated at the stage of investigations by the police or that diligent prosecution have developed epileptic fits. Our laws, constitution and periodic elections are mere decorations. Where is the content of the ordinary peoples’ interests in governance in Nigeria? Judges including justices of the Supreme Court were accused of corruption and they were forced to step down from their Olympia Heights to face prosecution in the courts of the land. Senate President, the third in the leadership hierarchy in Nigeria has multiple criminal cases against him; he still presides over the affairs of the National Assembly making laws for ‘’good governance’’ of the country. A man steals goat in Nigeria and goes to jail, but the more the rich steals, the more freedom he gets from this our corrupt system. In China, I was told that a corrupt person must face capital punishment. In Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Islam; there is no discrimination in their administration of Justice. As recent as the 18th day of October 2016, a member of Saudi royal house Turk Bin Saud Al Kabar, was executed for killing an ordinary citizen of the Kingdom. If it were to be here the case will still be on preliminary objections until all traces of evidence connected with the crime have been deeply buried and the accused shall be discharged, even if not acquitted.
When will character and integrity count in our elections in Nigeria? Could it be as a result of poverty of socio/political consciousness that make people who are deficient in decency, integrity and character to win elections in Nigeria? Or could it be that character do not count because majority live in abject poverty and to such category, survival most often is the motto? I think a politician accused of a crime should be eager to clear his or her name rather than resulting to technicalities of the law and procedure to prevent his or her timely trial or trial at all. In a decent society whoever has phobia for diligent prosecution is guilty as charged if not in the court of law but in the minds of the people. In our criminal law, though the burden of proof of a crime is on the prosecution, if an accused person frustrates the work of the prosecutor, the weight of unproved guilt is on the accused. So let it be with the Senate President.
Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo is the Chairman PDP, Kwara State.
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